Maybe if you're at a big name university, the idea of making the national news is heartening or exciting. Maybe your Nobel laureate made a new discovery or got interviewed for something important. Or maybe your sportsball team won some big game. Or maybe a child genius finished their PhD at 12.
But if you're at a regional university, the chances of making the national news are low. And the chances for making the national news for something good are much, much lower. And so, it's no surprise that we didn't make the news for something good.
Every single day, students at regional universities do good stuff: they serve their communities, do mentored research, help people, learn stuff, act kindly towards others, write good papers.
But it's the few students who do something really obnoxious who make the news. And so, they made the news, but the dignified, beautiful response of other students didn't. Nor did the supportive faculty response.
The problems don't get easier. Not these days.
There's a national tone these days that makes certain sorts of obnoxious behavior seem condoned, heck, modeled, by certain people in power. And then students think that's a great way to behave. And it's not. Because down here on earth, if you threaten people, it's harmful. And students shouldn't feel scared to go to class or live in their dorm or apartment. And they certainly shouldn't worry that classmates are plotting ways to kill them.
I felt almost sorry for our headmaster because he's dealing with the obnoxious behaviors which he certainly doesn't condone. But he's also got to face the fact that nothing that's been done in the past 20+ years has taught students not to behave obnoxiously, and nothing he's tried to do in the past 5 or however many years has had that effect either. And now he needs to come up with ways to convince students not to behave in certain obnoxious ways, and he's got to do it on a super limited budget.
He proposed having students learn not to do obnoxious things from an on-line learning module. And a number of faculty folks basically told him, "no" and pointed out that there's actually a number of faculty members with expertise in these areas, and we need more of us, and more support, rather than paying for some crappy module. (It's good to know that I'm not the only one who hates the stupid modules we're "required" to do.)
And so, we have a few new things coming up, and a lot of decisions to be made, many of which will involve FERPA protections.
It was a disheartening, hard week here in the North Woods.
Showing posts with label Disasters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disasters. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Waiting for ...
Last Saturday, my laptop had an accident involving some liquid and the keyboard. I turned it off as quickly as I could (for some reason, holding the button down even for a long time just made it sleep for the first three times). And then after drying it as well as I could, I set it upside down to dry.
On Monday, I took it to the tech Guru here, and he took out the battery and hard drive, suggested I put it in front of a fan for at least four days (total) and said he'd dry the hard drive for a day and then try to pull my files off for me. I gave him my external hard drive.
On Tuesday, he gave me my external hard drive, and indeed, he'd saved all the files I'd asked for.
This morning, I took my computer to him again, and he reinstalled the battery and hard drive, plugged it in, and turned it on. The screen did it's usual "starting up" thing, and then went black with a little twirly thing going around and around. And it's been doing that for about four hours now.
No smoke, no flashes of light, so that's good. But the twirly thing going around and around.
The Guru says it might be that Windows did an update and the computer is trying to manage that. Or there may be something else.
So we wait. There's been no error message so far. Just the twirly thing.
Ugh.
On Monday, I took it to the tech Guru here, and he took out the battery and hard drive, suggested I put it in front of a fan for at least four days (total) and said he'd dry the hard drive for a day and then try to pull my files off for me. I gave him my external hard drive.
On Tuesday, he gave me my external hard drive, and indeed, he'd saved all the files I'd asked for.
This morning, I took my computer to him again, and he reinstalled the battery and hard drive, plugged it in, and turned it on. The screen did it's usual "starting up" thing, and then went black with a little twirly thing going around and around. And it's been doing that for about four hours now.
No smoke, no flashes of light, so that's good. But the twirly thing going around and around.
The Guru says it might be that Windows did an update and the computer is trying to manage that. Or there may be something else.
So we wait. There's been no error message so far. Just the twirly thing.
Ugh.
Monday, December 07, 2015
Special Arrangements
It seems like this semester, I have more students than ever before needing special arrangements for stuff at the end of the semester. It's all reasonable and legitimate: too many finals on one day, emotional health issues, and so forth.
The thing is, though, I'm getting to capacity.
In one course, I got an electronic thing asking for a rescheduled final because the student had three finals on one day. But the electronic thing basically asked me to just set a time.
So, I chatted with the student, and found a time that makes sense for both of us, and filled out the form. That means I need to write a second final exam for this student. Okay, it's extra work, but it's reasonable and has to be done. (I do write a different exam because I don't want a copy of the one this student takes to find its way to other students, giving them an unfair advantage on their final.)
Then I got an electronic thing from another student requesting to take the same exam in the services office, but asking for it to start after the real exam had finished. So, maybe this student has no nefarious plans (I don't think they likely do), but that seems problematic, doesn't it?
I called the office, and the people in charge weren't there, and the student worker answering the phones suggested that the student probably had another final after mine and so wanted a different time because they get extra time. And I said that they'd asked for the exam right after mine, and that I'd have to write another exam. Then he said that most professors don't write a different exam. Which pissed me off. First, I think that's BS. Second, how would he even know. Third, what does it matter? If I, as the person responsible, say that I'd need to write another exam, then that's so because I'm the person responsible. I didn't tell him off, but did say that even if no one else ever wrote a different exam, I would have to. (Only many hours later did I realize I could use the other exam I will have already written.)
So I asked the student, and the student said they just wanted an extra couple of hours to study. I suggested that making me write an extra exam so that they got a few extra study hours was inappropriate (and actually, against the rules), and could she take it at the regular time. She agreed that she could, and filled out a new electronic form, which has the correct starting time. I clicked my clicks, and sent it in.
Then the wrong starting time form got re-sent to me, probably because it's an automated thing.
I have two students in another course that need different sorts of accommodations.
So I make the accommodations as best I can. But inside, I'm tired of having to make accommodations. It's especially frustrating when the accommodations are for mental health issues, which look through the semester like the student isn't coming to class or doing their work. When they communicate with me earlier on, and the deanlings that work with them communicate, it's less frustrating. But when I get an email just before the last week of class suggesting that we faculty folks might be able to make accommodations, well, again, I probably make the accommodations, but I do feel frustrated. (Yes, I know my frustrations aren't anything like as hard as clinical depression or anxiety.)
It's hard to balance the special arrangements with the requirements that other students are meeting without feeling like things are a bit unfair to someone. (At the same time, one of my colleagues is dealing with a death in the family, and we've been covering in various ways for them. And that's what colleagues should do when it can be done, of course. So, special arrangements ARE good and important.)
I guess what I'm trying to get at is that we have bigger courses, and students are more fragile (because the economy sucks, primarily, around here) and more easily derailed/hurt, and we're under more pressure to feel responsible for them (without having any real power in the world), and we're under more pressure to do more bureaucratic stuffs (assessment fail) for more students. Because of the budget crap, we're admitting students who are less prepared than our students on average a few years ago, and admitting international students who are less prepared and whose English is weaker than our international students on average a few years ago.
I have another student who's looking very fragile right now, too, and who's going to need special arrangements as well.
The thing is, though, I'm getting to capacity.
In one course, I got an electronic thing asking for a rescheduled final because the student had three finals on one day. But the electronic thing basically asked me to just set a time.
So, I chatted with the student, and found a time that makes sense for both of us, and filled out the form. That means I need to write a second final exam for this student. Okay, it's extra work, but it's reasonable and has to be done. (I do write a different exam because I don't want a copy of the one this student takes to find its way to other students, giving them an unfair advantage on their final.)
Then I got an electronic thing from another student requesting to take the same exam in the services office, but asking for it to start after the real exam had finished. So, maybe this student has no nefarious plans (I don't think they likely do), but that seems problematic, doesn't it?
I called the office, and the people in charge weren't there, and the student worker answering the phones suggested that the student probably had another final after mine and so wanted a different time because they get extra time. And I said that they'd asked for the exam right after mine, and that I'd have to write another exam. Then he said that most professors don't write a different exam. Which pissed me off. First, I think that's BS. Second, how would he even know. Third, what does it matter? If I, as the person responsible, say that I'd need to write another exam, then that's so because I'm the person responsible. I didn't tell him off, but did say that even if no one else ever wrote a different exam, I would have to. (Only many hours later did I realize I could use the other exam I will have already written.)
So I asked the student, and the student said they just wanted an extra couple of hours to study. I suggested that making me write an extra exam so that they got a few extra study hours was inappropriate (and actually, against the rules), and could she take it at the regular time. She agreed that she could, and filled out a new electronic form, which has the correct starting time. I clicked my clicks, and sent it in.
Then the wrong starting time form got re-sent to me, probably because it's an automated thing.
I have two students in another course that need different sorts of accommodations.
So I make the accommodations as best I can. But inside, I'm tired of having to make accommodations. It's especially frustrating when the accommodations are for mental health issues, which look through the semester like the student isn't coming to class or doing their work. When they communicate with me earlier on, and the deanlings that work with them communicate, it's less frustrating. But when I get an email just before the last week of class suggesting that we faculty folks might be able to make accommodations, well, again, I probably make the accommodations, but I do feel frustrated. (Yes, I know my frustrations aren't anything like as hard as clinical depression or anxiety.)
It's hard to balance the special arrangements with the requirements that other students are meeting without feeling like things are a bit unfair to someone. (At the same time, one of my colleagues is dealing with a death in the family, and we've been covering in various ways for them. And that's what colleagues should do when it can be done, of course. So, special arrangements ARE good and important.)
I guess what I'm trying to get at is that we have bigger courses, and students are more fragile (because the economy sucks, primarily, around here) and more easily derailed/hurt, and we're under more pressure to feel responsible for them (without having any real power in the world), and we're under more pressure to do more bureaucratic stuffs (assessment fail) for more students. Because of the budget crap, we're admitting students who are less prepared than our students on average a few years ago, and admitting international students who are less prepared and whose English is weaker than our international students on average a few years ago.
I have another student who's looking very fragile right now, too, and who's going to need special arrangements as well.
Friday, October 16, 2015
More Disaster News from the Front Lines
Our state government wants to allow concealed weapons on campus. We're not talking about a sharp wit, either. (I know retail workers are in far more danger from guns than I am. I don't want them to be endangered, either.)
It came up in one of my classes, as we were winding down, and the students were really disturbed by the possibility. One said she'd be afraid to live in the dorms if weapons are allowed.
I got an email from a student whose friend is suicidal, and my student is trying to deal with what this all means. I emailed and suggested that s/he's doing the right thing, helping the friend, and not to worry about my class.
And here we get to the real issue with guns on campus. Guns are really good at killing people, and students are under loads of stress, and sometimes suicidal, and making it so that they have easy access to guns seems like it will enable suicidal students to have very effective means of committing suicide.
I got another email from a student who's going to miss class because s/he has to go to a relative's funeral. The student politely apologized and said s/he'll get notes from someone else. (The class session isn't an exam or anything.)
It feels like for so many students this semester is spinning out of control in all sorts of bad ways. Others are caught up in the eddy a bit, but still keeping their heads above water for now.
***
My department is going to add a program that will have some of our students clamoring for independent studies and so forth. Stuff that's great, but takes a lot of faculty energy and time. And I don't think there's any provision for helping faculty find that energy or time. We're going to be asked, and perhaps pressured (asking a non-tenured faculty person is always/already potentially pressuring them) to do extra work, but it won't "count" towards our load in meaningful ways. (I'm sure our personnel letters will note the work, but that's not the same as having an independent study seen as a real part of the workload.)
***
I was in a meeting in a far away silo earlier this week, and one of my colleagues told me that in her department, the chair is teaching a large lecture course, using four multiple choice exams for all the grades, and claiming that he's doing 900 student contact hours, and everyone else should be doing what he's doing to contribute to teaching. My colleague is feeling chastised for teaching a senior level course for majors with small enrollment, lots of writing and such.
***
This has been a week of meetings. I had a 2+ hour meeting on Monday, an 1 hour meeting on Tuesday, a 1 hour meeting on Wednesday followed by a 1.5 hour meeting, and today, I have a 1.5 hour meeting and another 1 hour meeting scheduled. This on top of meetings with students, teaching, grading, writing a report. Each of the meetings was (so far) worthwhile in itself, but I am pretty much mentally done with meetings for the week, but the afternoon meetings must come.
It came up in one of my classes, as we were winding down, and the students were really disturbed by the possibility. One said she'd be afraid to live in the dorms if weapons are allowed.
I got an email from a student whose friend is suicidal, and my student is trying to deal with what this all means. I emailed and suggested that s/he's doing the right thing, helping the friend, and not to worry about my class.
And here we get to the real issue with guns on campus. Guns are really good at killing people, and students are under loads of stress, and sometimes suicidal, and making it so that they have easy access to guns seems like it will enable suicidal students to have very effective means of committing suicide.
I got another email from a student who's going to miss class because s/he has to go to a relative's funeral. The student politely apologized and said s/he'll get notes from someone else. (The class session isn't an exam or anything.)
It feels like for so many students this semester is spinning out of control in all sorts of bad ways. Others are caught up in the eddy a bit, but still keeping their heads above water for now.
***
My department is going to add a program that will have some of our students clamoring for independent studies and so forth. Stuff that's great, but takes a lot of faculty energy and time. And I don't think there's any provision for helping faculty find that energy or time. We're going to be asked, and perhaps pressured (asking a non-tenured faculty person is always/already potentially pressuring them) to do extra work, but it won't "count" towards our load in meaningful ways. (I'm sure our personnel letters will note the work, but that's not the same as having an independent study seen as a real part of the workload.)
***
I was in a meeting in a far away silo earlier this week, and one of my colleagues told me that in her department, the chair is teaching a large lecture course, using four multiple choice exams for all the grades, and claiming that he's doing 900 student contact hours, and everyone else should be doing what he's doing to contribute to teaching. My colleague is feeling chastised for teaching a senior level course for majors with small enrollment, lots of writing and such.
***
This has been a week of meetings. I had a 2+ hour meeting on Monday, an 1 hour meeting on Tuesday, a 1 hour meeting on Wednesday followed by a 1.5 hour meeting, and today, I have a 1.5 hour meeting and another 1 hour meeting scheduled. This on top of meetings with students, teaching, grading, writing a report. Each of the meetings was (so far) worthwhile in itself, but I am pretty much mentally done with meetings for the week, but the afternoon meetings must come.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Overwhelmed
There was a mid-size quake reportedly felt in Tokyo a couple days ago. The epicenter was out to sea, and so there wasn't a lot of damage.
And then there was Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. And now the big quake in China. The reports I've seen said a 7.8.
Loma Prieta was something like 6.8 to 7.1. And the Northridge Quake was something like 6.7. Since the Richter scale is logarithmic, a 7.8 is ten times the energy as a 6.8. My mind boggles.
Times like this, teaching writing, Shakespeare, the liberal arts, all seems pretty useless to me. Planting trees feels useless, too. It all feels useless.
***
I've been thinking about getting a dog when I get home. I'm worried about the time I spend at the office, time when the dog would be alone at the house, and the time I spend out biking. Well, and, to be honest, wanting to travel without having to find someone to dogsit. And worrying about the whole resource issue. (I'm guessing my old dog had a pretty serious carbon footprint, if I think about how far his food was probably shipped and stuff. I bet he had a greater carbon footprint in his short life than a lot of folks living in the third world.)
Still, purely selfishly, I'm thinking about getting a dog. I like being part of a pack, even if it's a pack of two.
If I were half the person my dog thought I was, I'd be a pretty amazing person.
***
I got my incentive check, the one we're supposed to spend on consumer goods so that we can support the economy. I'm trying to decide between Planned Parenthood and the local food bank. Both organizations do good work, and both can always use the money.
***
I can't give blood until late January, I think. It's weird, maybe, but giving blood seems like at least an attempt to do something meaninigful. When I got back from the Peace Corps, I couldn't give for five years because of the malarial prophylaxis. But now it's supposedly a year for visiting a malaria area. (Assuming I don't come down with a surprise case of malaria, of course. I didn't do the prophylaxis thing for my short visit to low risk places, but I did smear DEET all over myself, and slept in netted rooms and such.)
And then there was Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. And now the big quake in China. The reports I've seen said a 7.8.
Loma Prieta was something like 6.8 to 7.1. And the Northridge Quake was something like 6.7. Since the Richter scale is logarithmic, a 7.8 is ten times the energy as a 6.8. My mind boggles.
Times like this, teaching writing, Shakespeare, the liberal arts, all seems pretty useless to me. Planting trees feels useless, too. It all feels useless.
***
I've been thinking about getting a dog when I get home. I'm worried about the time I spend at the office, time when the dog would be alone at the house, and the time I spend out biking. Well, and, to be honest, wanting to travel without having to find someone to dogsit. And worrying about the whole resource issue. (I'm guessing my old dog had a pretty serious carbon footprint, if I think about how far his food was probably shipped and stuff. I bet he had a greater carbon footprint in his short life than a lot of folks living in the third world.)
Still, purely selfishly, I'm thinking about getting a dog. I like being part of a pack, even if it's a pack of two.
If I were half the person my dog thought I was, I'd be a pretty amazing person.
***
I got my incentive check, the one we're supposed to spend on consumer goods so that we can support the economy. I'm trying to decide between Planned Parenthood and the local food bank. Both organizations do good work, and both can always use the money.
***
I can't give blood until late January, I think. It's weird, maybe, but giving blood seems like at least an attempt to do something meaninigful. When I got back from the Peace Corps, I couldn't give for five years because of the malarial prophylaxis. But now it's supposedly a year for visiting a malaria area. (Assuming I don't come down with a surprise case of malaria, of course. I didn't do the prophylaxis thing for my short visit to low risk places, but I did smear DEET all over myself, and slept in netted rooms and such.)
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